here's speaker boehner on the chances of cutting a deal. here it is. >> if you've looked closely at what the president had to say and look closely at what i have had to say, you know, there are no barriers here to sitting down and beginning to work through this process. >> ruth conniff, i really don't know what that means. do you? >> it makes me nervous because i don't really want to see us moving that close to boehner. and, you know, it's interesting. i talked to economist dean baker, he's the economist in america who showed that the housing bubble was a threat back in 2002. before it actually popped in 2005. he has a lot of credibility. he said the best deal might be no deal. if obama can go into these negotiations and say this fiscal cliff is not going to impact people on january 2nd, it's recessionary, but he could get the two main things he campaigned on, even if there's no deal, which is an instant hike on the very rich and no touching of social security, medicare and medicaid. then the republicans just as e.j. points out would have t